


After 03x10 (The Underground Job)

by PseudoLeigha



Series: (More) 2AM Conversations [40]
Category: Leverage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9407327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoLeigha/pseuds/PseudoLeigha
Summary: Nate and Eliot talk about kids and role-models.Eliot's POV





	

 

It’s not a long drive to Boston from West Virginia as far as road trips go, but it takes a long time, because mountains and giant vans full of tech equipment simply do not mix well at high speeds.

Parker and Hardison had caught a quick flight back, supposedly so that Hardison could get a jump-start on tying up loose ends online from Headquarters, and because Parker was not allowed to drive Lucille. Eliot suspected that the hacker wanted a chance to get the thief alone to talk about their non-existent relationship. (He didn’t necessarily think that trapping her on a plane to do so would work, but he looked forward to finding out.) He was almost certain that Sophie shared his suspicion, because he could think of no other reason that she would volunteer to help him and Nate bring the van back. She had taken a shift driving, but as the sun set she had decided to hand the wheel over to Eliot, and had quickly fallen asleep in the back. Nate had become his co-pilot more by accident than design, and if Eliot was honest, he was doing a piss-poor job of it. His primary job was to keep Eliot awake, and he hadn’t said a word since they crossed the border into New York.

“Come on, man,” he said, breaking the silence. “Talk to me about somethin’. Keep me awake.”

Nate hummed slightly under his breath before he declared, “Alright, I’ve got something: what was up with you and that kid? Cody, was it?”

“Cory. Good kid. What about him?”

Nate shrugged in that way that meant his question really wasn’t nearly as nonchalant as it seemed. “You seemed awfully invested in him for someone you only met a few days ago. He remind you of someone?”

Eliot frowned slightly. “A few someones. He’s maybe sixteen, lyin’ about his age an’ puttin’ in a man’s work down there tryin’a do right by his mom an’ sister. Smart kid. Hard worker. Coulda made somethin’ of himself if his daddy didn’t die in the explosion an’ leave him the man of the house. Guess he still could, but it’ll take a lot more luck than it woulda done if he’d been able to finish school. I knew a lotta kids like him, back in the day, had ta grow up to fast, ya know?”

“Yeah? What about you?”

“Nah. I never had to look out for anyone but me. To be honest, I ain’t sure I coulda handled the responsibility. Cory… I dunno if he’ll be able to handle it, either, long term. Thought he was gonna fall apart on me when he realized we were leavin’. But he’s tryin’, and that’s a damn sight better’n a lotta grown men I’ve met.” He chanced a look away from the road to see that Nate had a slightly goofy grin on his face. “What?!” he snapped.

“Nothing.”

“Nate…” Eliot growled.

“Fine, fine,” the older man laughed. “I was just wondering if you were going to keep in touch. Check up on him now and then.”

Eliot shrugged. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of it. He kind of wanted to – make sure the kid at least got half a chance to have a decent life. But he knew he probably wouldn’t. It wasn’t his business. He’d already done what he could to give the kid a leg up without giving him a hand-out.

“You should think about it,” Nate suggested. “Couldn’t hurt.”

The younger man had to laugh at that. “Nah, can’t see that it would. Just can’t see myself callin’ him up an’ checkin’ in, either, though.”

“Too bad. You could have been a good role-model for him.”

Eliot had to look at Nate again to give him a look that said ‘have you lost your goddamned mind?’ because he couldn’t think of anyone less suited to be a role model for _anyone_ than himself. Well, he had met some really awful people in his time, so that probably wasn’t strictly true, but that didn’t mean that he was qualified, in any case. Poster boy for bad life choices, more like. “Maybe _Eric_ would’a been a good role-model,” he answered, referring to his miner character, “but in case you forgot, I ain’t him. Not really.”

He caught a hint of Nate’s smile out of the corner of his eye. “I didn’t forget. And I meant what I said. A kid would be lucky to have you in his life.”

“Oh, yeah, Nate. I’m a thief. I beat the shit outta people for a living. I used to kill people. I’m exactly the kind of person you’d want in your kid’s life.” He winced as soon as he said it. He hadn’t meant to bring up the subject of the older man’s lost son, but now that he had, there was no going back.

Nate sighed heavily. There was a familiar old pain in his voice when he answered. “I would, you know. You’re an honorable man, and smarter and… kinder than you let on. If Sam was still alive… I’d want you to meet him. I’d want you to look out for him. Keep him safe, if anything happened to me.”

A silence nearly as heavy as Nate’s sigh settled between them. Eliot let it sit for a moment, in recognition of how hard he knew that must have been for the mastermind to say. It was one thing to trust him with the team’s safety, but to even consider that he might have trusted him with his family? It was a little amazing, he thought, to consider how far they had come since the older man had rebuffed his first attempt to offer his condolences.

“Thank you. That means a lot. I know… I mean… I’m sorry I never got to meet him.”

He looked up in surprise as Nate clapped him on the shoulder, but once he did, he was unsurprised to see unshed tears in the older man’s eyes.

“Me too, Eliot. Me too.”

 


End file.
